Patience and Faith

Approximately once per month I conduct a Private Briefing for those interested in learning more about Truth At Work. This morning was one of those mornings.

My awesome bride accompanies me to these meetings to help me get setup and to greet the guests and give them name tags, etc... (Did I mention to you that she is awesome?)

Because of the snow we received over the past several days, we decided to take Connie's car because it has four wheel drive. We arrived at the location of our briefing at around 7 AM (for the 7:30 meeting) only for me to realize that the keys to the building were at home on my key chain...D'OH!

We live 15 minutes away which means we would be returning at the start of our meeting if all went well (which also means that a locked building would be all that would greet our guests if they were early). So, we rushed back home and called our oldest daughter who is 21 (and amazing) and asked her to grab my keys and start driving toward us. She did so which saved us close to 10 minutes (did I mention my daughter is amazing?).

We turned around with keys in hand and tried to hurry as best we could, yet it seemed like everyone wanted to pull out in front of us and drive extra slow this morning...Ugh! It seems each vehicle in front of us could have had a sign on it like the truck above. My patience, and my faith, were being put to the test.

All the while, I was praying and reminding myself that I can do nothing about the situation. In my head I knew that God had it figured out and that I needed to just release it to Him, yet I was trying to control the situation from where I sat. Not only did I find out that was impossible, all it did was create more unwelcome anxiety in me.

Though stressed at times, in the end, I did a fairly good job of remaining calm (nowhere near perfect, but better than I used to be!). We arrived back at our location with five minutes to spare and only two cars were waiting on us in the parking lot. We quickly got setup and started only five minutes late with 12 in attendance.

The meeting went great and two big lessons were once again learned by me:
1. Always bring your keys if you need to unlock something
2. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Contentment

Sarah's grandson is playing in the water, while she is standing on the beach not wanting to get her feet wet, when all of a sudden a huge wave appears from nowhere and crashes directly over the spot where the boy is in the ocean. The water recedes and the boy is no longer there. He simply vanished.

Sarah holds her hands to the sky and cries, "God, how could you? Have I not been a wonderful mother and grandmother? Have I not prayed dilligently? Have I not given faithfully to you through my church? Have I not tried my very best to live a life that you would be proud of?"

Just then, another huge wave appears out of nowhere and crashes on the beach. As the water recedes, the boy is standing there, smiling, splashing around as if nothing had happened.

A loud voice booms from the sky, "I have returned your grandson. Are you satisfied?"

Sarah responds, "Well...he WAS wearing a hat."

Do you know anyone like this? Someone who never seems to be satisfied...even when they get what they want? Is this you?

One of the keys to living a life filled with joy is to find that place of contentment, even when you DON'T get what you want. This takes trust. Trust in God that He knows what is best for you. Getting to this place will please your Father...and it will make you pretty happy too!

"...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."

Philippians 4:11b

In God I Trust?

On Tuesday night of this week, I went to bed sometime around 10 and found myself running through a checklist of things I needed to have ready for our Truth At Work roundtable meeting (a monthly meeting of Christian leaders which helps them to grow their organizations in a God-honoring way while at the same time helping them to grow personally and spiritually). Normally, I wouldn’t be doing this but on Wednesday we were starting our 3rd group in NW Ohio and things run a little differently in our kickoff meetings. Plus, I wanted everything to go great for our new members.

While running through my inventory of tasks, I realized that I had forgotten to check to see if our host site had wireless internet access which we would need in this meeting. I then thought of a couple of other minor things I had forgotten. I began to worry and be anxious about this. I was in “I hope things work out OK” mode. As a result, though I knew that God is in control, I struggled to get to sleep. I must not have truly trusted Him to take care of things.

God had a message for me yesterday morning when I woke up. I was greeted to a devotional from my friend, Os Hillman, which had this to say:

Seeing God's Power in the Clothing Industry

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

Wednesday, May 20 2009

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Cor 2:3-5).

I learned a principle years ago of withholding our natural gifting to insure that God is in whatever we are doing.

Crystal is a businesswoman involved in the manufacture of designer clothing. Her designs are known for their elaborate detail and accessories sewn into the clothing. She had a contract with a major retail chain that agreed to carry her clothing. A call came from the retailer requesting that four designs be sent to them for consideration for the next season's clothing line. She had known that meeting this particular deadline was going to be very difficult due to other circumstances that were going on in her life.

Finally the deadline came and she had not completed the two of the pieces of clothing she wanted them to consider. The elaborate detail and finish work she was known for had not been completed on two of the four pieces they were asking for. She called the retailer and said she had two pieces ready to ship but the other two still needed to be completed. The retailer argued with her and said, "Send the others to us anyway."

Crystal is a perfectionist and the idea of sending her designs to the retailer without the finished detail, creativity, and quality made her very uncomfortable. Then, she recalled my teaching on this principle. She decided to do something in total opposition to her natural inclinations. She sent the two pieces of clothing to the retailer along with the other two "finished" pieces. To her shock and amazement the retailer chose the two pieces of clothing that had not been "finished" and declined the other two.

Crystal realized that God was demonstrating His power through this principle of withholding her natural gifting to show her that it was by His hand that she was being successful in her business. This did not take away her need to be creative or skillful, but there was now a new understanding to move in a dimension that placed greater dependence upon obedience rather than just her natural skill.

On the surface, this might not seem like it relates to my situation, but I know that God was using this to speak to me. It was if He was saying, “Jim, when are you going to learn that you can totally trust in Me? When are you going to get that no matter what you do, you can’t control this stuff? When will you understand that worrying won’t do anything but cause you grief?”

I love when God does stuff like this. I am not where I need to be, but I’m so glad I’m not where I used to be!

Trust

I just read an article about the Korean automaker Hyundai and the reason they have had so much influence in the automotive market. When Hyundai made their debut in the US in 1986, they did so by selling a lot of vehicles, many of which had quality issues. They quickly became the laughingstock of the industry. One joke went like this: "How do you double the value of a Hyundai? You fill the gas tank."

A pretty tough start.

However, this is not the end of the story. The article continues with this...

Reeling from quality concerns, Hyundai had to reestablish trust with wary consumers. In an attempt to do so, the company settled upon a marketing plan to offer over-the-top security to customers willing to buy Hyundai. Dangling the incentive of America's Best Warranty, Hyundai won back the business of skeptical uyers.

However, convincing customers to buy was only half the battle. Could Hyundai satisfy them and earn repeat business? Thankfully for Hyundai, it was able to deliver quality and fix its image. In stepping up its caliber of manufacturing, Hyundai equaled and, in some cases, surpassed the Japanese automakers in measures of quality. By doing so, the company won back the trust of customers.

As a result of this turnaround, Hyundai has been able to be an influential player in the automotive market. Today, Hyundai has been the trendsetter in consumer warranty and assurance programs that have been copied by their competitors. They now have influence.

A couple of valuable lessons here. First, trust is paramount to growing in your influence. Second, if you have failed in establishing trust in any way, as Hyundai initially did, all is not lost. You can make the effort to win back the trust of others. However, telling someone that they can trust you probably will not work in this case. It won't be easy, but you will need to re-establish your trust through your actions.

A good name is more desirable than great riches: to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 22:1

Trustworthiness

Peter Drucker, one of the best known thinkers and writers of our day had this to say about leadership:

"You know, I was the first one to talk about leadership 50 years ago, but there is too much talk, too much emphasis on it today and not enough on effectiveness. The only thing you can say about a leader is that a leader is somebody who has followers. The most charismatic leaders of the last century were called Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Mussolini. They were mis-leaders! Charismatic leadership by itself certainly is greatly overstated. Look, one of the most effective American presidents of the last 100 years was Harry Truman. He didn't have an ounce of charisma. Truman was as bland as a dead mackerel. Everybody who worked for him worshiped him because he was absolutely trustworthy. If Truman said no, it was no, and if he said yes, it was yes. And he didn't say no to one person and yes to the next one on the same issue. The other effective president of the last 100 years was Ronald Reagan. His great strength was not charisma, as is commonly thought, but that he knew exactly what he could do and what he could not do."

To read the rest of what he had to say, go here - I highly recommend reading this!